Machine for making shoe-buttons



3 Sheets-Sheet VPxaA-.ellted De. 7, 1886.

(No Model.)

11H. HARDMAN. I l v MAGHI'NB FOR MAKING SHOE BUTTONS.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.) Y

'E'. H. HARDMAN. f MACHINE POR MAKING SHOE BUTTONS. No. 353,677.'Patented Deo. 7, 1886.

(Nomaden) y 3 sheets-Sheet F. H. H-ARDMAN.

'MACHINE PoR MAKING BUTTONS. 77.

` No. 353,6 tented Deo. 7, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT- GFEICE.

FRED HLKEE HAEDMAN, on TAUNToiL MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE'FOR MAKING SHOE-BUTTONS.'

SPECIFICATION arming pare of Letters neerlandesa-611. dated eeember v.1886.'

Application filed August 3D, 1586.

ro .2and3 opposite end elevations, of a -inachine em ,bodying myinvention, the nature of which is defined in the claims hereinafter'presented. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal and-.vertical section of it, takenthrough the button-head former. Fig. 5 is a perspective view,- onauenlarged chine, while'Fig. 6 is a similar perspective view of it,showing the form it takes while zo in the'head of the button. Fig. 7 isa side 4view of a piece of the wire, showing the manner in which it iscut obliquely to form, on being subsequently bent'inthe shape of a.`staple, each button-eye with its legs wedge- 25 shaped at`their ends andwithfthe slant or Obliquity of one standing in a directionopposite tothat of the other. Fig. 8 is aside view, and Fig. 9 an edge view, of abutton-head blank, of leather-board or other suitable ma-y terial. 'Fig.10 is a side view of a finished button. Fig. 11 isahorizontal section ofthe feed-rol1ers and parts immediately adjacent thereto.. Fig. 12 is aside view of the abutment D, into which the wire descends. Fig. 13 is atransverse section of themachine, taken through the feed-rollers. Fig.14 is avertical and transverse section of the machine, taken through thesprings that forceapart he; jaws K, hereinafter described,l such section'showing such jaws. Fig.'15 is anotheitsnch sec- 'tion taken through thebutton-head, blank passage or raceway, land the plunger thereof. vFig-16is a horizontal section' of the jaws K K, itvbeing taken through the pinG. 4 5 The machine on which my improvement or invention is based is forreducing wire into 4button-eyes in the form of a staple, and forpressing each into a head, and at'the same time imparting form to suchhead .The main 5o characteristics of such a machine are mecham ism forintermittently feeding thewireto a slaan No. amiss. '(Nt modal.)

stopor abutment, mechan-isni for separating from the strip of wire apiece of it of sufficient length for an eye, mechanism' for bending'such eye'into the form of,a staple, mechan- 5.5. ism for grasping andholding the eye after such formation of it, mechanism .for guiding andfeeding the head-blanks into themachine,

and lmechanism for forcing each of such blanks. v

upon an eye, so as -t'o give form to the 4blank, 6o

and at the same time effect the passage o f the legsofthe eye into it,the said blank.

Before proceeding-to a further enplaiiation of -my improved ornewmachine, it may' be. remarked that one distinguishing. feature of it65 is its mechanism for cutting the wire obliquely to .its axis ratherthan'square thereto, and

-bending'tfinzthe-p'lane of. the conj-ugateaxesf.

of its terminal ellipses,-suc l 1oblique cutis bef. ing shown at ax kin'-Fig." i.' Oneach piece or eye-blank being subsequently bentaround inthe form of a staple, the Obliquity of one end o f it will stand theopposite way of that of the other, 4as will bel'seen by inspection ofFig. 5, wherein the obliquities' jor faces of cut are shown at t* andy". While the button-head is being forced upon the' two legs of the eye,the said obliquities canse the said legs to turn or be bent or todiverge opposite ways, as shown in Fig. 6; whereby each leg becomes, toa certain extent, hooked within .the head,'and as a consequence the eyeis held withl great firmness within such head.

The Obliquity at each end of the eye iself liptical in shape, and thewire -composing the eye-isbent by the machine inthe plane of the 1.conjugate 4axes ofthe two ellipses. Were the wire bent `1in-the planeof the transverse aires ofthe two ellipses both obliquitieswould standin the same direction, and of course.-;the legs of the eye in passinginto a buttonhead would not spreader be deiiected-in opposite ways, butwouldhein thasame lway.

Besides the characteristics as hereinbefore mentioned, my said machineis provided with means of expelling from-it each button after itscompletion therein, as explained. f

'lathe drawings,I A denotes the bed-plate of: the machine, such platebeing provided .with

a main shaft, B, and' an auxiliary-'jshaft,i C,

they being duly journaled in boxes or bearings lc c and l b. A.bevelgeanaxed on the main-i shaft, engages with a similar gear, d,fastened on the auxiliary shaft, which stands at right angles to themain shaft. At one end of the main shaft .there is a ily-wheel, e, andat the other, and a loose pulley, g.

The wire for the formation of the buttoneyes is shown at h as going ilrough a stationary guide, i, and thence between twofeedrollers, k l, onthe shaft o, one of which is a grooved pulley,-m, about which, andanother such pulley, m2, on the shaft C, an endlesscrossed belt,v a',works. The shaft p of the other roller is pivoted at one end to astandard or post, q, in orderthat such shaft may be turned or swungoutwardly horizontally. The roller Z turns .freely on its shaft p,through which and a sprin g, r, fixed to the post,a headed screw, s,extends, and has screwed upon it a hand-nut, t. By revolving the saidnut the grip of the feed-rollers om the wire maybe in.- creased ordiminished, as occasion may require. In descending, the wire at itslowerend will be forced into contact with and arrested by a stop orabutment, D, which basin it an augular recess, u, as shown in Fig. 13,such-recess being toy centralineA the wire and to stop itin its descent.Ou the wire beingstopped by the abutment the yfeed-rollers will continueto re. volve, but will slip on the wire and will not again move it untilafter a. piece may have been separated from the wire andconverted into abutton-eye and iusertedin aibuttonhead. Before entering the said recessthe wire passes through la. stationary tubular guide, E, whose lower endis oblique or inclined, as represented, it being to operate with acutter, F, properly formed for it, while being moved underneath oracross the said guide, to cut the wire obliqucly toits axis, ashereinbefore menv tioned. Each eye-blank severed 'om the wire has itsends wedge-shaped, as shown. The said cutter F not only performs thefunction of removing a blank -from the strip of wire, but that ofbending the said blank at its middle around a pin, G, arrangedhorizontally, the wire being, by acurved notch, v, in the f cutter, bentinto the form of a staple. The cutev ter projects from and is-attachedto a. slide, H,

adapted to move rectilinearly. It is impelled forward by a lever, I,which is moved one way by aicam, w, fixed on the shaft C. A spring,properlyv applied to the bed-plate and the slide H, serves to retractthe slide, and to keep a friction-roller, y, on the lever against thecam w.

After the blank has been bent, as described,

two jaws, K K, are advanced horizontally to- .ward and grasp it betweenthenn,lea,ving extending from them suihcient portions ofthe legs of theeye to enter a button-head blank. (See Fig. 16.) Y The jaws slidehorizontally, and are forced toward ,each other by'two levers,L, ar-

ranged as represented, and actuated by cams z,iixed onthe driving-shan?.Each-lever L has in its arm' that is next the ljaws aserew, a',

vthat screws through the and -reeeivesin a.

or thcreabout, there is a fast pulley, f,

socket at its end a-pitman, b', extending from Each jaw is provided withavspring, d', for

roller e' in the lever L against the camz.

The buttonhead blanks, being short cylinders of leather-board, areforced successively by suitable mechanisminto a guide-path or raceway, f',arranged above and extending over into a cylindrical chamber, g',arranged or formed in thetwo jaws. Extending within this oha'mber is theheader M, in whose inner end is a cup-shaped recess, or -concavity, h.After is advanced, and not only forces aheadfblank yupon'the legs of theeye, but imparts Vto the said blank asenii-globular form, oran'approximation thereto. The header M is fixed in a carrier, N, whichis Operated by an eccentric, z", carried by the driving or main shaft,such carrier being adapted to slide rectilinearly back and forth. Itisconnected with the eccentric by' a collar, k', thereon, a revolublescrew,"'i', and a jointpiece, m', the latter being jointed, as shown,-to the carrier. The screw screws into the jointpiece, and is rcvolublewit-hin the collar, and is held' represented in Fig. 4. y

` The button-head-blank plunger isshown at O, it being reciprocatedormoved vertically, as occasion may require, by'a lever, P, which,fulcrumed in a post, Q, is properly jointed to the plunger and bearsupon a cam, R, fixed on .the main shaft. This plunger, arranged asshown, is adapted to slide vertically and is adjustable in a carrier,o,`which is jointed to the lever and provided with a setfscrew, p', for

part of the groove af, in which the plunger works, there is al spring,b, which holds the head-blank, so that it shall not fall outoftheraceway before the jaws are ready to receive such blank. L

The pin G projects from and. is carried by one of the jaws K, and entersa recess or hole, q', in the other jaw, when thefjaws are moved towardeach other, they holding the piu firmly after which they close upon theeye and hold it securely vwhile the buttonhead blank is being forcedupon it, the said eye. Next the jaws move apart, so as to draw th'e pinG out ofthe button-eye, and the header retreats. In moving backwardthrough' the button-eye the pin G draws the eye against a stationarystud or pin, r', which extends from. the part in which the jaws slide.This' stud or pin r serves to hold the button until the pin G is drawnout of theeyef Ou thepin passing out of the eye, the buttonis free to'fall or drop out of the machine.

I would observe that l do not claim a butv.pieces to fornil the eyes ofthe buttons is cut from a strip of wire at right angles to its axis,

the eye has been seized by the jaws, the header thereto by a set-screw,n', all being as v while the eye-blank is being bent around it,`

the screw into a projection, c', from the jaw.

moving it backward and keeping the frictonone of t-he jaws, theinnermost blank passingVV` IOO holding the plunger inposition. At thelower v IIO ton-making machine in which each of the v and sbseqnentlybent around in the form of a staple having each leg cnrvedoutwardly in.theplane of the axis' of thepiece,ali being l essentially as' describedand represented in the, 5 United States Patent No. 244,310. l 1I claimas of my invention- 1 f t `1. The combination of one movable'jaw Kandthe 'pin-G, carried thereby, and the other -moveble jaw-K, having therecess or hole to xo receive' the said pin, with the cutter F, providedwith the wire-bending notch ebend with the' heder-M, having in it thecnphped recessvh, as described, euchjaws', cutter, and

headerbeing provided with mechanism. for 15 operating them,-substentiallyasiset forth.

A 2. -Tiievcombination of the movable jaws K E, having'A to one-theipin'G and to the other the recess q'f for its' reception, the stationary''tubnlaxj'guide E, having its lowerendcbliqne' n. 2p orinclined,asrepres ented,thectter Fhevn ing the wire-bending notch v,and'formed to operate with such lcwer end of such guide so i ae tocutthe'wire obliqieiy', and the header M, having the cup-ehapedrecess h',eredeY scribed, such jews, cutter, and`heeder being provided withmechanism for .operating them, Substantially as set'forth. 3. Thecombination'of the stop' or abut-ment D, having'in its upper endv theWire eentral-. izng angular? recess u, as represented, with 3o 'thefeed-rollersk l, stationary tubularguide E, movable'wire cutter andbender F, pin G, and' the jews 'K K, such' feed-rollers, cutter andybender, and jews being provided with mech- .Kanism forjoperating them,snbstantlely as Bet 3 'forth v' v' FRED HOLKER HARDMAN.. @Witnessesz vR. H. EDDY, l

